Port arthur- the legal response

On the morning of Sunday 21st April 1996, a young Hobart man, Martin Bryant armed himself with three high powered automatic firearms and a large quantity of ammunition and then drove to Port Arthur. North of Port Arthur, he entered the home of a couple he briefly met as a child. Inside he started his rampage, shooting them both. Once he arrived at the Historical Site Port Arthur he ate a meal at the Broad Arrow Café. He then waited till his meal was finished to take his rifle from his bag and began to indiscriminately shoot around the crowded Cafe. Within the first 90 seconds, 20 people had died and 12 were injured. The man then moved to the adjacent car park, where he shot and killed four more people and added to the toll of injured people as well. After shooting at people in the grounds of the Historic Site, he maneuvered into his car and drove up the former main entrance road to the original toll booth. In this area, seven more people were killed in two separate incidents, during which he stole a victim’s car and abandoned his own. Driving north to a General Store, he killed another person and took one hostage then drove back to the place of his first killings, firing random shots at vehicles along the way. At the house, he continued to set fire to the stolen car and then took his hostage inside. Through the afternoon and night, shots were fired at police officers on the scene. At some point during this time, Bryant killed the hostage. When morning arrived, he set fire to the house and was captured by police as he fled. By the time the incidents had finished he had killed 35 people and injured 18. . Bryant had 72 criminal charges pressed against him and 551 witness statements were entered. After initially pleading “not guilty” to 72 charges, his plea was changed after conversations with his lawyer. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with no eligibility for parole on all 35 murder charges, plus 21 years for each of the remaining counts of the indictment.
Political leader and Prime Minister at the time John Howard vowed to make a change concerning guns and their ownership to ensure these devastating events never happen again. As a result of this vow and the huge amount of public outcry an almost immediate agreement was drawn up called the ‘National Firearms Agreement 1996.’ This involved the banning of military style automatic and semi-automatic guns, limiting the availability of non-military style semi-automatic rifle and shotguns to primary produces, introducing registration for all firearms, including long arms, grouping firearms into 5 broad licensing categories, , creating the need to establish a reason or a particular need to own a firearm, having a waiting period of 28 days before purchasing a firearm in order to enable appropriate checks to be made, stricter storage of all fire arms and requiring all sales to be conducted by or through licensed firearm dealers. More progress continued to develop which resulted in the “National Firearms Program Implementation Act 1996” which consisted of 7 acts and covered compensation to all involved parties, the rules and the regulations that the Attorney General has in relation to this act and payments to the state as a way to compensate them for any loss of revenue due to the changed gun laws. The “National Firearms Program Implementation Act 1997” which extended compensation to certain automatic weapons not covered by the 1996 agreement and “National Firearms Program Implementation Act 1998” which related specifically to Norfolk Island, Cocos Island and Christmas Island being created. As a result from the National Firearms Agreement, approximately 660 000 firearms were surrendered under the Governments “National firearms buyback scheme.” The Nation firearms buyback scheme aimed at reducing the amount of guns in households and therefore limiting the opportunity to use them. It cut the country's stock of firearms by 20 per cent and roughly halved the number of households with access to guns. As a means for paying for this scheme the Commonwealth, States and the Territories introduced the “Medicare Levy Amendment Act 1996” which temporarily raised the Medicare levy to pay the predicted cost of five hundred million dollars through a one-off increase in the levy.
It was not only the response of the courts and political leaders that arose from the Port Arthur Massacre. The death of Narette Mikac and her two daughters, Alannah and Madeline, aged 6 and 3 forced human beings to be reminded of the fragile nature of human life and the destructive potential of guns. The “Alannah and Madeline Foundation” has the goal to keep children safe from violence and runs programs to assist with the recovery of children who have witnessed or experienced violence and to prevent violence and bullying in schools. It also acts as a children’s advocate before federal, state and local governments. Mr. Mikac, the man who created the foundation, also inspired Australians across the country to accept and acknowledge the change that was occurring in gun laws, making the Governments job slightly easier. Things like memorial gardens were also established honoring the victims, and giving their families support and a place to grieve. In 2007, Tasmanian playwright Tom Holloway dealt with the massacre in his play Beyond the Neck. Tasmanian composer Matthew Dewey also deals with these issues in his first symphony. All these measures raise public awareness of the massacre and the need for gun control and thus support for the National Firearms Agreement.